Big news….needing a job in California as an occupational therapist! :)

My big news has arrived. I can finally share as I have given notice to my work. My last day of work here in Warm Springs, and LaGrange, Georgia, is September 17th. Shortly after I am moving back to where my family is – Southern California. More specifically, La Jolla in San Diego County. 🙂 I'll be staying with my mom there a while as I get re-adjusted to life in Cally after TEN YEARS in the South.

My plan is to head to Bogota, Colombia pretty soon to do a Spanish program of some sort with emphasis on healthcare, and also hopefully volunteer at this landmine foundation that has rehab, with apparently a lot of amputees. Should be very interesting. I plan to be there 6 weeks, staying with a friend who lives there. ANYWAY – that should help me brush up my rusty Spanish enough that I can treat Spanish-speaking patients easier 🙂 A lot of those in CA.

ANYWAY – I don't exactly have a job yet. My dream job would be at the children's hospital, specifically in Special Care (step down neonatal ICU essentially), but I know that's extraordinarily unlikely. Barring that, I'm looking at pediatric settings. I don't think I'm really cut out for adult phys dys, (physical dysfunction) like what I've been doing, unless I could be working underneath the near guidance of a mentor (a la Jan Davis or Linda Roccio or um, I dunno, awesome people like that).

Sooo….I'm HOPING that works out. I've met a lot of really nice people through this blog and I'm hoping someone might recommend me or tell me about a job in the San Diego area (ideally La Jolla!) as an occupational therapist, preferably pediatrics, and preferably with a lot of mentorship!!

I'm hoping sometime in the next year, with all these life changes in the works, I'll be ready to write another article for OT Practice about some of those adventures….(would be my 3rd published piece with them)…

I'm about to hit my one year anniversary as an OT practitioner – September 1st – and it's been quite a year with a lot of interesting experiences, with some agonizing days and other amazing days. I feel VERY confident that I do a good job of making my patients feel loved/cared for/therapeutized (lol) – they all feel like I'm helping them. I don't feel nearly as confident in my actual hands-on skills but I do feel confident I'm improving and doing my best to provide high quality of care.

Anyway, time for bed. Lots of work to do in the next month to prepare for the big move. Any thoughts, suggestions, insights, recommendations, blah blah, on doing a cross-country road trip via I-40, finding a job in San Diego, and going to South America, would all be very much appreciated. I could definitely use the support that your comments provide!! I love you guys!! 🙂 My little bloggitos!!